


Strays

by Ourliazo



Category: Naruto
Genre: Academy Era, Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Basically cute kids and cute puppies, Breaking and Entering, Epic Friendship, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Kid Fic, Light Angst, Protective Hatake Kakashi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29848524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ourliazo/pseuds/Ourliazo
Summary: Naruto finds a dog door installed in a quiet, clean apartment, for the village’s stray dogs. The flap is pretty big, and as it turns out, children can also fit inside.Naruto further tests this by shoving Shikamaru through as Sasuke watches on in mild confusion.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi & Kakashi's Ninken, Rookie Nine & Rookie Nine
Comments: 18
Kudos: 197





	1. Step 1: Ensure your Nara has adequate exercise.

Shikamaru looks up when a shadow falls over him.

Naruto peers down at the sprawled boy, blue eyes wide. "Are you...is there no one to pick you up?"

The Academy grounds are quiet, most of the children having run screaming as soon as possible. Shikamaru can see teachers hunched over stacks of paper through the staff room window. The small grassy hill he's lying on is a rather good vantage point.

Naruto has been quietly creeping closer to Shikamaru for the past fifteen minutes and now flops down beside him. "I'll stay with you," Naruto proclaims. "So you don't get lonely and stuff."

Shikamaru sighs and lazily follows a cloud passing above them with his eyes. "My family is setting up a surprise birthday party. I'm staying here to give them enough time."

Naruto folds his hands over his chest and stays quiet for six minutes, which is two more than Shikamaru expected.

"How do you know it's a surprise?" Naruto blurts out. "A surprise is a surprise; you can't know about it!"

"They're bad at keeping secrets."

"I bet they make awful ninja," Naruto says seriously.

Shikamaru thinks of his dad, the Jonin Commander. "Yeah. Horrendous."

Naruto rolls over, elbow jabbing Shikamaru in the side with a flail. "How long do you have? Do you want to play ninja?"

Shikamaru hums and makes a guess based off previous experiences. "Hour. Hour and a half." If he's being optimistic.

"Let's make it an assassination!" Naruto cheers, bouncing up to his feet. "My code name is Hokage!"

Shikamaru closes his eyes and plays dead. Unfortunately, Naruto has come to the conclusion that the best way to move a Nara is to do it physically. Shikamaru is hauled over thin and bony shoulders but he commits to it and stays limp.

Naruto has a very one-sided conversation with his mission partner as they take off for the market, but the blond talks enough for two people anyway so it doesn't really matter.

Naruto isn't very stable on the rooftops while carrying another boy, so they end up sneaking through the market on the ground. It's less sneaking and more Naruto tiptoes his way along the side of buildings, theatrically looking around like he's expecting someone to chase him.

People give them weird looks for the dead Nara.

Shikamaru raises his head when he catches sight of blue and white, eyes landing on Sasuke. The Uchiha is clutching a bag of tomatoes to his chest and is very pointedly not looking at them.

"Help," Shikamaru says flatly.

Sasuke pouts. Or maybe glares. It's hard to tell with such cute chubby cheeks. Sometimes Shikamaru thinks the girls are understandable when they coo at the Uchiha, but then they start the unholy screeching and he thinks Ino needs to be exorcised.

Naruto's head whips around and locks onto Sasuke too. He first looks angry, then conflicted, but still jogs over. "Teme! We're on an assassination."

"You're never going to graduate," Sasuke deadpans.

Which is pretty realistic considering how the current situation looks. Naruto, however, takes this as a challenge.

"You can be the target!" Naruto cries. "I'll kill you, then we'll see who graduates!"

Sasuke scoffs. "I don't have time to play games with you, I'm going to do real training with my Aniki later."

"Actually," Shikamaru cuts in with a drawl. "Running fake missions is a good way to prepare tactics for a real one, and sparring with a new opponent is better than falling into a routine with a usual partner."

 _Please_ , Shikamaru says with his eyes. _He's too excitable, don't leave me alone with Naruto._

Sasuke pouts again. "...okay. Just until my Aniki gets home. Let me put my tomatoes back though."

"I know where you can leave it," Naruto says, bouncing on his feet in excitement. "This way!"

Sasuke follows, occasionally glancing at Shikamaru like he wants to ask why the Nara is being carried but doesn't want to know the answer. They leave the market district and wind deeper into the housing sector.

The village preaches intermingling of shinobi and civilian but there's clear segregation and Naruto is leading them through shinobi apartments. Stronger frames, larger windows, landlords who won't complain about tenants banging around at two in the morning or bloody tracks through the hallways.

Naruto pauses outside one apartment building, looks both ways and then ducks around the small back alley.

"Teme," Sasuke snaps quietly, wavering at the entrance. "Where are we going?"

"Putting your stupid tomatoes away!" Naruto calls back as he slides around some bins, but he stays relatively quiet as well.

Sasuke looks around, huffs and (gently) storms after the two. Naruto stops outside an apartment door, just before the alley feeds back into a main road, the door having a large dog flap in it. He drops Shikamaru off his shoulders and stuffs the Nara through the flap.

"What," Sasuke deadpans.

Naruto drops down and wriggles through as well. Shikamaru is splayed awkwardly where he was shoved in, refusing to get up because he's gotten used to being carried around and now feels lazier than ever. He remains on the floor while taking stock of the apartment.

It's empty, bare walls and no decorations or personal items left around. The door opens up to a living room and kitchen fusion, with a hallway further down probably leading to the bedroom and bathroom. It's clean enough but the furniture is very worn down.

Probably because of the dogs, a large scruffy one that might be a Labrador curled up on one couch cushion. A little matted one, some mixed breed of black and grey, is frozen with its head in a large food bowl attached to the wall. There's also a water bowl, both with containers hanging above to automatically refill when the level drops in the bowls.

Both dogs are strays, obvious by their dirty coats and small but numerous injuries that most strays acquire on the streets. The Inuzuka generally take in strays but Konoha is a large place and some dogs are liable to bite when humans get too close, regardless of intentions.

"What," Sasuke says again from outside the door.

"Come in," Naruto urges.

"That's not your apartment," Sasuke snaps and sounds a bit like he hates himself for that knowledge.

To be fair, Naruto talks a lot, and there's only so much babble about being Hokage the boy can spew out without at least mentioning his home once.

"It’s like mine,” Naruto says, looking away. “The orphanage owns it but no one lives here.” Naruto huffs and shoves an arm out of the flap. "Give me the stupid tomatoes, I'll put them away."

Sasuke eventually crawls inside because some things are more important than pride. How unfortunate that such a thing is a bunch of tomatoes.

The little dog has gone back to eating, the big one panting quietly with a tongue lolling out.

"Leave it on the counter and let's go," Naruto says, sliding over to pet the dog on the couch.

Sasuke frowns. "I'm putting it in the fridge."

"It'll zap you," Naruto argues, fingers buried in fur clumped together by dirt. "With the glowing squiggles."

Shikamaru sits up. "Seals?"

"Whatever," Naruto whines. "Let's goooo."

Sasuke still tries the fridge door and squeaks when a small seal on the left door activates, snatching his hand back. "It zapped me!"

"I told you so!"

"Shut it, Dobe!"

They end up dropping the tomatoes off on top of the fridge because Sasuke is paranoid the dogs will eat it. Shikamaru is stuffed back through the flap and they head off to play ninja. They don't assassinate anyone but a passing chunin almost gets stabbed by a wild throw from Sasuke so Naruto counts it as a success.

Shikamaru is still too early for the birthday party.


	2. Step 2: Naras need a healthy social life.

Shikamaru is maybe getting too used to being carried places, because when Naruto charges up to him one day after the Academy lets out, Shikamaru just goes limp and lets himself be scooped up into a fireman's carry.

"Um," Chouji says.

"Huh," Kiba adds on.

"Let's go play ninja!" Naruto cries and basically just threatens the two of them with his Nara hostage.

A passing Sasuke rolls his eyes and continues for a few more steps before he realises that he left his tomatoes in that apartment last week.

Sasuke gasps in horror and turns towards Naruto. "My tomatoes!"

Kiba starts backing away, the puppy flopped over his head also looking sceptical. "Actually, I hear my mum calling me-"

Chouji drops a salt and vinegar dusted hand onto Kiba's shoulder, the other gripping the chip bag tightly. "I can't leave Shikamaru."

"That sounds like an Ino-Shika-Cho problem. Imma head back to my Inuzuka."

"No, no, no. You mispronounced it. _Inu_ -Shika-Cho. A lot of people get this wrong actually."

"Yeah, ninja-tag!" Naruto cries happily and runs off with his Nara.

The other three are forced, by various reasons, to follow.

None of them notice Ino and Sakura hiding behind some bushes to spy on Sasuke, which is impressively blind considering Ino is lilac and platinum blonde while Sakura is bright pink.

To be fair, Hinata is definitely not camouflaged but no one noticed her hiding place either.

"Where do you think they're going?" Sakura whispers to Ino, blushing a bit because Sasuke might have, possibly, vaguely looked in the general vicinity of where the girls are hiding as they stalk him.

"We should follow," Ino decides immediately.

"C-can we?" Sakura asks hesitantly. "That's a lot of, um, clan kids…"

Ino scoffs. "My two don't count, and then there's a dog and a civilian. You'll be fine." Ino stands up and brushes off her dress. "Come on, let's go imprint our presence on Sasuke so he eventually acknowledges us and then relaxes so it'll be too late by the time he realises we've conditioned him to love us."

"Um, okay," Sakura says, happily following her best friend, who maybe says some weird things but that's typical of a clan kid.

Neither of them understand what a husband actually is, they just think Sasuke is cute and want to cuddle him a lot. To be fair, a lot of people want Sasuke-cuddles.

* * *

Sasuke starts making adorable whining noises when he can't find his tomatoes anywhere. It may be because he also discovered that the cupboards and such also have lightning seals on them and got stung.

Naruto has dropped Shikamaru onto a massive black bulldog that has an equally large spiked collar, well groomed and healthy. Shikamaru thinks it might have an owner that just lets the dog wander around and it found its way to the dog flap.

The dog _wuffs_ at Shikamaru but doesn't move and makes a surprisingly good bed. The dog is certainly not an Inuzuka breed considering Akamaru slides off Kiba's head and burrows into the jacket, peeping up at the big bulldog only to yip and duck away again.

Kiba hunches his shoulders and looks around cautiously because something feels odd about this place, but it does smell mostly like dog and faint Naruto.

Chouji, ever since he first (after much sucking in and wriggling) fit through the dog flap, was immediately tackled by four of the strays in the room trying to roll around in his delicious scent to take with them when they leave.

The bulldog makes that low barking sound again, lazy, and the strays back off but spin around in circles and try to act cute.

Naruto has squatted down to pet them. He's seen them all before, when they were still feral and would tear into the couch pillows and snarl when Naruto got close. They've been tidied up now with properly cut and combed fur, injuries half healed.

Someone takes care of them when they're out there on the street and Naruto is glad for that. They're all good dogs, just a bit scared and betrayed one too many times.

Naruto wants someone to take care of him too.

The flap slaps up and Ino rapidly scuttles through with a whip of her high ponytail. Kiba screams in fright and Shikamaru actually sits up on the bulldog-couch, clutching his chest in shock.

"No," Sasuke says immediately.

"Sa~su~ke," Ino croons, rising to her full (quite short) height. "Oh, _husband_." Ino stalks towards the Uchiha menacingly with a manic grin.

Sakura awkwardly tries to get through the flap without looking too embarrassing and ends up flailing a lot. "Ino, I thought he had to get used to us first?"

Ino sighs but pauses and refixes her hair. "Fine. I shall be patient. Sasuke, you have until Tuesday to sign our marriage papers."

"Tuesday is tomorrow," Chouji points out.

"I'm not _that_ patient," Ino scoffs. "Anyway, what are you two doing here? I'm telling your dads you broke into a house."

"Technically you broke in too so you're an accomplice," Shikamaru says.

"Got you there!" Naruto chimes in with a laugh.

Ino pauses.

Sakura, finally freed of the dog flap, pops up beside Ino. "Yeah, but her dad is a higher-up in T&I so nepotistic corruption means it'll all be hushed over."

"What she said," Ino calls back at Naruto.

Shikamaru blinks. "Sakura just said your dad was corrupt."

Ino whirls around in outrage.

Sakura shrugs. "I mean statistically… I read about it in a book."


	3. Step 3: Your Nara requires a well-designed burrow.

On the last day of the Academy this year, Sakura is already waiting at the apartment, sitting on the couch with a light grey dog flopped over her lap for pats, Sakura brushing through the dog's mohawk. The dog has a blue vest with a heno-heno-moheji face sewn on the back.

What looks to be a sibling with a darker tan fur coat and that blue vest is lying down beside a napping Shikamaru who claimed a dogbed for himself. Chouji is messing around on the kitchen island, unpacking all the food his dad made him, and Shino is sitting on the counter because he just started appearing one day and no one really minded.

Ino dives through the flap first just so she can then reach back and pull Sasuke through. Sasuke is smart enough to shove Kiba in first and then scramble inside while Ino is distracted with the Inuzuka boy spilling all over her.

Naruto comes last, dragging their newest member – Hinata. Poor Hinata was caught just outside the block of apartments blushing pointedly in Naruto's direction and Naruto thought it meant she wanted to come and play too.

"That one's Shiba, there's a tag on the vest," Naruto says happily, pointing at the dog on Sakura. "And then Urushi. That one is Shikamaru-"

"She knows who Shika is," Ino scoffs and then promptly switches to a shrill cry and charges at Sakura. "That dress is so cute on you!"

Sakura perks up and grins. "It's new. Um, it's a little bit purple too so we match."

Ino shrieks and glomps Sakura. "Ohmygodyes. Sasuke, compliment your wife!"

"I thought you were my wife," Sasuke grumbles, scooping up a passing gaunt little sausage dog because he needs the cuddles and honestly the dog could use a hug too.

"We can all be your wife," Ino says sagely. "Right, guys?"

Hinata looks at Naruto.

Naruto grins. "Yeah! Let's be Sasuke's wife!"

"O-okay," Hinata mumbles, and there's a little dazed smile on her face as she's blinded by Naruto's radiance.

Sasuke looks at Shikamaru for help. Shikamaru is pretending to be sleeping.

Kiba muffles his laughter into Akamaru, squishing the puppy against his face, while Shino is quietly contemplating how he will discuss the marriage with his mother.

* * *

They get distracted planning out the house they'll live in when they eventually get older and take Sasuke as their collective husband.

Most of them are joking but Shino actually gets very precise with the drawings and Sakura has a lot of random but very detailed knowledge on all kinds of subjects – including building construction.

Shino's insects are discussing the addition of a slide from the rooftop tree house, past the indoor pool and flower garden, looping outside, to down in the underground training area. Efficient, the insects say. Whoosh~

Chouji stares down at the blueprints laid out on the floor. "That won't fit in the Akimichi compound unless you want to build it on the edges."

"I guess we could put it in the Yamanaka," Ino muses. "I need to ask mum though."

Hinata is mumbling nervously about asking permission and being a branch from the main Hyuuga house.

"Oh, let's – let's-" Naruto bounces in place. "Let's make a new one! Let's make a clan!"

Sasuke scoffs. "You can't just make a clan, Dobe."

"Shut up, Teme! When I become Hokage-"

Kiba barks out a laugh. "When you become Hokage, I swear on Akamaru, we'll marry Sasuke and make a clan."

Naruto jabs a finger at Kiba, and then swings it around to encompass everyone in the room. "You all wait. One day I'm gonna marry Sasuke! No - I mean, be Hokage."

Shikamaru drags a hand down his face.

* * *

After the sun drops far below the horizon, they pack up and leave, making sure to refill the dog food and water dispensers with the huge bags in the one cupboard that can open.

Naruto jogs down the street backwards, yelling goodbye and waving excitedly. When he turns the corner, he slips down an alleyway, climbs a fence and finds himself back at the apartment's door.

He putters around, pulling a flattened bag out from under the couch. He changes into sleeping clothes and curls up on the couch. A stray dog, some kind of poodle mix but beefy, joins him and the warm fur lulls him to sleep quickly.

Naruto doesn't often spend time at his own cold, broken place anymore. Not when here is so much nicer, when the dogs keep him company. When he can't afford ramen, he even has the dog food.

Naruto, in this hazy state of being half asleep, thinks he hears the front door open but maybe not. He thinks he feels someone put a blanket over him but all the others have gone home so probably not.

The door down the end of the hallway opens and clicks shut.

And as Naruto sleeps he turns and kicks the blanket to the ground, so when he wakes up he still thinks it was a dream.


End file.
